Displaced
by PrisonerPadfoot
Summary: Kagome finds herself suddenly ripped away from Inuyasha and in the care of his elder brother.
1. Violet Eyes

**All the chapters in this story will be inspired by Dokuga's Spectrum Challenge. This particular one was inspired by the color Violet.  
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Kagome looked into Hakudoushi's violet eyes and was afraid. No one could help her now. She only had herself, her bow and arrow against Hakudoushi's terrible oni pet. Behind her, Miroku sat with his poisoned hand around an unconscious Sango. Shippo comforted an injured Kirara, and then there was Inuyasha. His dark-haired, human form lay prone in the darkness a few feet away. He had rushed out from his hiding place and given away his secret for naught. One swipe of the oni's claw had put him out of the fight and left Kagome to her own devices. She drew her bow and Hakudoushi smiled, giving a nod to the oni at his side.

The oni opened its palm to the sky, and Kagome gasped as a shadowy mass arose from it. It was a black hole in space, a colorless void surrounded by an eerily bleak aura. She could feel it calling to her. It spoke as an almost breathless whisper in her ear. It clouded her head and made her lower her bow, dulling her senses. She could see the void expanding toward her, blocking out her view of Hakudoushi and his oni. It crept closer and closer until all she could see was its impenetrable blackness. She could hear Inuyasha's voice calling her back from somewhere distant, but soon that too was lost to the dark.

Her heart leapt into her throat as the ground was pulled out from under her. She turned around in weightless suspension and found herself alone. She looked in every direction, and the movement seemed to awaken something within her that the oni had tried to dull. Her fingertips tingled with power, and she drew her bow once again. The arrow glowed and she let it fly. It came to a halt as though it had hit an invisible wall, and a circle of light swiftly spread from the arrowhead.

Kagome screamed as she was pulled forward, toward the break in the darkness. She could feel gravity returning, and she was falling through the blinding light of her own power. The ground came up on her quickly, and the surface was very unforgiving. She held out her hands to break her fall and felt as large pebbles and gravel dug into her skin. Her knees scraped across the rough surface and bled.

She was still in darkness, but it was incomplete. A circular portal in front of her revealed a scene of trees and sky, and starlight filtered slowly into the cave she had been deposited into. She got shakily to her feet, ready to run toward the exit. She was stopped by a cruel laughter from behind her. She whipped around and was confronted by two violet orbs glowing in the shadows. She went to draw her bow and realized that the string had snapped. She was defenseless.

"Oh no…" Kagome said, taking a step backwards.

"Something wrong?" came the disturbing soft voice of a child demon. The colorful orbs floated closer until their owner was clearly visible. Hakudoushi stood before her with his long-handled blade slung over his shoulder. "Too bad your friends can't help you."

Hakudoushi's blade swung off his shoulder in a wide arc. Kagome put her arms up to shield her face, but the searing pain she was expecting never came. Instead their was a child's scream, a flash of light behind her closed eyelids, and a sickly sweet smell that made her nose itch and throat tighten. Kagome let herself fall to the ground and opened her eyes to darkness. She could hear movement behind her, feint rustles of fabric and the crunching of gravel underfoot.

The darkness extended into Kagome's mind, and she collapsed to the ground in an exhausted faint.


	2. Indigo Moon

**All the chapters in this story will be inspired by Dokuga's Spectrum Challenge. This particular one was inspired by the color Indigo.  
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When Kagome finally opened her eyes, she found herself looking up into the heavens. Her vision was blurred, and the stars dotting the sky ran together in fuzzy lines. With a groan, she looked to her left and found a pair of demon's eyes looking back at her.

"Inuyasha…?" she asked groggily.

She was answered by a low growl, and Kagome squinted against the darkness. She quickly realized that the handsome face staring back at her was not Inuyasha's. His hair and eyes were of the same hues as her hanyou, but an indigo moon graced the forehead of her savior. Kagome sat up with a gasp, drawing her knees to her chest.

"Sesshoumaru!" she yelled in surprise.

The demon Lord looked down on her with a scrutinizing gaze. "Miko," he acknowledged her.

"Thank you for saving me," she said, and tried to get to her feet. Her knees wobbled and betrayed her, letting her fall back to the ground. She was not surprised that Sesshoumaru made no move to help her. However, she was surprised to find that her fall had turned her at an angle to see her useless bow and quiver of arrows neatly laid on the ground nearby.

"I only wished to destroy Naraku's spawn. Saving you was only a consequence of that wish," Sesshoumaru said.

Kagome's eyebrow disappeared into her hair. He claimed to have had no intentions of helping her and yet he had taken the time to carry her out of the cave, never mind her broken weapon. She took her bow in hand and ran her fingers sadly down the broken line of string.

"You killed Hakudoushi?" she asked him.

"He unfortunately escaped me," he said, "I suppose he is the reason you are now separated from my half-brother."

"Yeah," she said, and took the time to examine her surroundings. Even in the waning cover of darkness she could tell that it was unfamiliar land. Her friends could be hundreds of miles away, and she only had one resource for getting back to them. She found that resource disappearing into the trees when she turned back to him. "Hey, wait! Don't leave me, I don't even know where the heck I am!"

Grabbing her bow and quiver, Kagome willed her legs to obey to her. She sprang up and ran after Sesshoumaru. He turned around very quickly, and under the weight of his scowl she crumpled to the ground again. He said nothing, only turned and continued walking. Getting to her feet again, Kagome followed him at a distance. She half expected him to turn around and in his smooth yet stern way tell her to get lost. He did no such thing, and after a solid hour or so of walking, Kagome dared to get closer to him. It was only after another long period of walking that she risked talking to him again.

"Will you take me back to Inuyasha?" she asked.

"My half-brother has an irritating habit of crossing my path," he said. Kagome took it as a yes, though she thought it might have been the most indirect way of saying yes she had ever heard.

She said no more. She followed him well into the night, until the muscles in her legs screamed for rest and her eyelids hung heavy with sleep. She gave a wide yawn and stretched her arms, and when she opened her eyes she found that Sesshoumaru was no longer in front of her. Her eyes went wide in panic. She should have expected this from him. He led her out in the middle of the forest and left her as food for hungry youkai. How could she have been so stupid? He had once tried to kill her, and she expected him to help her. What a stupid thing---

An annoyed grumble stirred her out of her thoughts. She turned around to see Sesshoumaru sitting against a large tree. His eyes glowed strangely in the gloom. Kagome only hoped he couldn't see her blush. She laid down near a fallen log, using her folded hands as a pillow. She tucked her quiver and bow neatly against her stomach.

"Thank you," she said, and the glow of Sesshoumaru's eyes disappeared for a moment as he blinked and looked away.


	3. Green Demon

**All the chapters in this story will be inspired by Dokuga's Spectrum Challenge. This particular one was inspired by the color Green.**

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When Kagome awoke the sun was already high in the sky. Usually Inuyasha would rouse them just before sunrise to start on their endless journey, and she couldn't remember the last time she had slept until so late in the day. She sat up and stretched her arms, giving a wide yawn. She smiled at Sesshoumaru, who was still sitting against his tree. It looked like he hadn't moved from the spot all night.

"Good morning, Sesshoumaru," she said cheerfully. The demon scoffed at her and got slowly to his feet.

Kagome went to gather up her belongings, but when she looked at her side she found only her quiver. Afraid she had rolled over on it during the night, she quickly got up but found nothing. She scoured the ground for it, even crawled part of the way into the fallen log, but there was no sign of it.

"Looking for something, miko?" Sesshoumaru asked.

"My bow! I can't find it!" she yelled, frantic. "Did you see it?"

Sesshoumaru said nothing, but Kagome followed his eyes as he looked at something off to his side. She had looked straight at her bow before, yet she hadn't seen it. It was hanging by its string from a branch on the tree Sesshoumaru had been sitting under. She ran over and unhooked it, running her fingers over the newly replaced string. She turned to Sesshoumaru with wide eyes.

"You restrung my bow," she said in amazement.

"I will not have a helpless damsel trailing behind me," he said, and before she could thank him he started walking away.

"Hey, wait up!" Kagome called, crashing through the brush after him.

She was not used to traveling in silence. When she was with her friends there was never a shortage of conversation, but now there was only the sound of her feet crunching through the underbrush. Sesshoumaru's treads were strangely quiet, and Kagome found herself actually trying to be noisy in order to compensate. He kept shooting her annoyed glances over his shoulder, but the silence somehow made her feel out of place, and she tried her best to ignore him. She considered trying to start a conversation with Sesshoumaru, but quickly nixed the idea. She would just wind up talking to herself or be told to silence herself.

She was glad when she heard voices off in the distance.

"Does Master Jaken want to play a game with Rin?" Kagome heard the delicate voice of the human child that always followed Sesshoumaru around.

"I will not be reduced to playing pointless games with a foolish human," came the reply, followed by a slew of girlish giggles. "What are you doing? Stop that!"

Kagome followed Sesshoumaru into a clearing to find Rin skipping circles around Jaken. A two-headed dragon was laying down near them, one sleepy eye watching them carefully.

"Lord Sesshoumaru!" Rin said joyfully, running over to stand before him.

"My Lord!" the little green demon yelled, throwing himself at Sesshoumaru's feet. It wasn't until he lifted his head from the dirt that he realized Kagome was standing there as well. "Isn't that Inuyasha's wench behind you?"

Rin gasped and got on her toes to peer around Sesshoumaru. "Lady Kagome!" she said, running up to Kagome and taking her hand. "Are you joining us?"

"Of course she isn't joining us, you idiot girl," Jaken said scathingly, "Lord Sesshoumaru would never allow any of his filthy half-breed brother's friends to associate themselves with him! Especially not this wench! Why, she's--"

"Jaken," Lord Sesshoumaru said listlessly, and the little youkai squealed as his master's boot came down hard on the top of his head.

"Lady Kagome, why aren't you with your friends?" Rin asked.

"Well-" she began, then noticed Sesshoumaru had started walking again. "Come on Rin, I'll tell you as we walk."

"Okay!" Rin said, skipping after her Lord and tugging Kagome along with her. "Come on, Master Jaken!"

Rin grabbed the dragon's reins as they passed him, and the massive beast got to his feet and followed alongside them. Jaken scurried past them to walk at Sesshoumaru's side, and Kagome strained to hear what the imp was saying to his master as she talked to Rin.

"Lord Sesshoumaru, surely you cannot mean to keep that insufferable girl under your protection," she heard Jaken say.

"You question my judgment?" Sesshoumaru's voice was unusually low and rough. He was obviously annoyed, and Kagome was amazed that she could read any emotion from him.

"No, My Lord. It just seems very foolish of you--" Jaken said, but he did not get to finish. He was knocked off his feet and sent sailing into a tree.


	4. Orange Kimono

**All the chapters in this story will be inspired by Dokuga's Spectrum Challenge. This particular one was inspired by the color Orange.**

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In traveling with Sesshoumaru, Kagome became used to much shorter days. They would start their day well after the sun had risen, and would continue on until just before the light began to disappear from the sky. Nonetheless, she had the feeling that she was covering more ground in a single day than she ever had traveling with Inuyasha. It probably had something to do with the distinct lack of bickering, and the roads less traveled that Sesshoumaru was leading them down. Kagome hadn't seen another human besides Rin in days, much less a whole village. Of course, one look at Sesshoumaru would dissuade any villager from asking for their help anyway.

Sesshoumaru let them know it was time to make camp for the night simply by sitting himself down next to a tree. Ah-Un plopped down indiscriminately even before Rin let go of his reins. Jaken leaned himself up against the dragon's scaly haunch and gave a yawn.

"Rin," Sesshoumaru said, and the little girl scampered over to him. As Kagome placed her weapons against a tree she heard Rin give a girlish squeal, and before she knew it she was being dragged off into the trees.

"Rin, wha-?" Kagome asked confusedly.

"Come on, Lady Kagome! This way!" Rin said enthusiastically, but a single grumble from Sesshoumaru calmed her down.

"Miko," Sesshoumaru said, and Kagome turned to look in his impassive face. "An archer should never be without their weapons."

"Oh," Kagome said lamely, and went to collect her bow and arrows before allowing Rin to drag her off again.

"Where are we going, Rin?" she asked.

"You'll see!" the girl said, and they continued to trek through the brush in silence.

Kagome was a little worried that Rin had no idea as to where she was going. She followed the child blindly for awhile longer and was just about to ask again where they were headed when she noticed a distinct change in the air. It became humid and she was greeted by a very familiar and pleasant heat. Her spirits lifted a bit, and she was unspeakably happy when Rin pulled back a few tree branches to reveal a hot spring.

"Lord Sesshoumaru said it would be here," Rin said smugly, and ran giggling toward the water. Kagome laughed as she shrugged out of her orange checkered kimono and splashed into the water.

"He said it would be here?" Kagome asked herself. She suddenly found herself wondering if it was coincidence that they had camped so close to a hot spring, or if Sesshoumaru had chosen it intentionally. The only thing she did know was that she had not had a bath in a long while, and her sore muscles could use the hot water. Coincidence or not, she was suddenly grateful.

Kagome laid her weapons on top of her clothes and stepped into the water. Rin had thrown her kimono very close to the water's edge, and the cloth was already soaked at the hem. Kagome folded it neatly and hung it over a tree branch before wading into the water.

Rin was in up to her eyeballs, blowing bubbles in the water. Kagome laughed and splashed at Rin, who gladly splashed back.

"Rin?" Kagome asked after awhile.

"Yes, Lady Kagome?"

"Please, Rin. Just call me Kagome, okay?"

"Okay, La-" Rin began, but managed to catch her mistake. "I mean Kagome."

"Why do you follow Lord Sesshoumaru?" Kagome asked, although in theory it might have been more informative to ask Sesshoumaru why he kept _Rin _around, but she didn't quite feel like being beheaded for being inquisitive. Rin provided a much less dangerous piece of insight.

Rin looked at Kagome with wide eyes and a crooked smile, as if it were a very strange question she was being asked. And to innocent little Rin, Kagome knew that it just might have been. "Lord Sesshoumaru is always very nice to Rin."

And with that little response, Kagome realized that Rin had never seen the true nature of Sesshoumaru. She may have seen him in a small scuffle or two, but she had never seen him locked in combat with his brother, had never witnessed the deadly accuracy with which he struck or felt his powerful battle aura. Each time Sesshoumaru jumped into their frays with Naraku, Rin was always curiously absent, and Kagome knew now that it was no coincidence. Sesshoumaru was keeping the girl out of harms way, and maybe he was also keeping her from seeing the more savage side of him. To her, he was a silent protector. Perhaps even a father. It felt strange to realize that there may have been more to the cold demon Lord than she had thought. Kagome shivered, and it had nothing to do with the cold night air.

"Kagome?"

"Oh, I'm sorry Rin. I was just thinking about something," she said, and waded to the edge of the water. "Come on, Rin. Your kimono should be dry by now."

They made their way out of the water and dressed. Kagome kept her bow close as the light faded and they trekked back to camp.


	5. Yellow Stare

**All the chapters in this story are written for Dokuga's Spectrum Challenge. This was inspired by the color Yellow.  
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As darkness descended, Rin's hand crept its way into Kagome's. Rin fell unusually quiet, and Kagome knew that even without miko senses to help her, little Rin felt that something wasn't quite right. In the darkness somewhere, lost in the myriad of trees, a suspicious aura pulled at the corners of her mind.

"What is it, Kagome?" Rin asked.

"I don't know Rin," Kagome said, one hand tightening around Rin's, the other around her bow. "But keep close to me, okay?"  
"Okay," Rin said, and she pressed herself into Kagome's side as they walked, burying half her face in Kagome's skirt.

Kagome and Rin froze at the sound of footsteps, huge crashing strides that rattled the earth and made the trees quiver and fall. Kagome readied her bow with an unsteady hand. She could feel Rin clutching handfuls of her skirt and shirt and tried to keep her own hands steady. If anything happened to Rin because of her inability to protect her, Kagome could never forgive herself.

The youkai battered its way forward until the line of trees in front of Kagome collapsed all at once. From the darkness came the tusked and gnashing mouth of an oni that Kagome recognized instantly. In the back of her mind she could hear Hakudoushi's shrill laughter, though she wasn't quite sure if it was real or if her memory was playing tricks on her.

"Oh no!" she yelled and fired her arrow, the arrowhead glowing a weak pink.

The arrow glanced off of the oni's horn and the terrible beast continued to barrel towards them, unfazed by her attack. There would be no time to ready another arrow. She grabbed Rin and dived into the brush, feeling a massive gust of wind brush over them as the oni charged past. Kagome looked up to see the oni coming back around towards them. She grabbed her bow and was about to take another shot when she felt movement from behind her. Kagome looked over her shoulder to see that Rin was no longer there.

"Rin!" she screamed, her heart hammering against her ribs. She scanned the trees wildly for any sign of the girl but found nothing, and when she turned back around the oni's tusks were nearly in her face.

She fired her arrow and caught the oni in the eye, and when she turned her head against the spray of blood she saw them, Sesshoumaru with Rin at his side, standing amongst the trees. The oni gave a furious roar, and when Kagome turned back toward him, there was a ball of shadows gathered in his palm.

"Oh, not again!" she yelled.

She could feel tendrils of that concentrated darkness reaching out to her. She could feel her mind begin to could, her senses beginning to leave her again. Soon she would be in the abyss, and there was no telling where she would end up. Before she could be consumed, she fired an arrow. It hit the side of the dark ball and dragged out a new tendril, but had no real effect.

Her eyes began to hang heavy, and she lowered her bow in spite of herself. Those tendrils of darkness crept closer and tried to wrap themselves around her arms. In what seemed like slow motion, she turned to Sesshoumaru and Rin. Rin was clutching tightly at one his sleeves. Her mouth was moving, but no sound was coming out. In fact, Kagome couldn't hear much of anything. Everything was dulled by the oni's power.

And Sesshoumaru just stood there. Couldn't he see she needed his help?

She looked into his scrutinizing yellow stare and knew that she was on her own. If she didn't help herself, no one would.

She readied another arrow, trying to shake herself out of the fog the oni was trying to place her in. She concentrated as best she could, letting the arrowhead glow a healthy pink. When corners of her vision began to fade to black, Kagome let the arrow fly.

It pierced through the center of the darkness, and the concentrated blackness was destroyed in a spray of pink light. Continuing on through it, the arrow pierced the oni in the head and there was another flash of light as he was purified. She gasped at the tangible sensation of her senses returning, like a battering ram crashing through the center of her forehead. She fell backwards to the ground a the same time she heard the oni's body fall against the trees to it's final resting place.

Kagome slowly turned her head at the sound footsteps, and she looked into the worried face of Rin, and the ever stoic visage of Sesshoumaru. Rin got her knees and tried to help Kagome sit up.

"Why…" Kagome struggled, panting. "Why didn't you help me?"

Sesshoumaru grumbled. "You must learn to help yourself, miko."

"You'd let me die just to teach me a lesson?"

"You are not dead," he said and turned away from her. "It is a lesson well-learned."


	6. Blue Sky

**All the chapters in this story are written for the Dokuga_contest Spectrum Challenge. This was written for the color Blue.  
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Kagome lay down beneath the blue sky and closed her eyes. She could hear Rin and Jaken somewhere nearby, the little demon making a fuss as Rin draped flowers around his neck. It was only midday, but when they came upon the open field teeming with colorful flowers, Sesshoumaru had sat down and declared they rest.

It had been two days since they had encountered the oni. She and Sesshoumaru had exchanged no words since the incident, but Kagome's mind kept returning to what had happened.

At first she had been angry at him. Inuyasha would have never let her come so close to death. He would have jumped into the fray with Tetsusaiga at the ready, prepared to behead the oni to protect her. Sesshoumaru had left her to own devices, but the more she thought about it, the less she believed he would have let her die if her arrow had not fired true. He had wanted her to learn to protect herself, but she doubted he would have made her pay for her failure with her life. A demon who took time to let his ward frolic in a field of flowers couldn't be so heartless.

Kagome was eternally grateful for all the times Inuyasha had saved her, but perhaps his eagerness to protect her was doing her an injustice. She could not always count on him to be her savior. Eventually she would have to learn to defend herself, instead of standing to the sidelines and watching her friends fight. In his own weird way, Sesshoumaru had been trying to help her.

"Lord Sesshoumaru!"

Kagome propped herself up on her elbows. She watched as Rin ran up to Sesshoumaru with a handful flowers. She plucked a bright red bloom from the bunch and held it out to him. He took it and twirled it in between in his fingers. His expression was blank and bored, but Rin gave a satisfied giggle and ran off to drape flowers over the sleeping Ah-Un.

Watching Sesshoumaru examine the little flower, Kagome couldn't help but giggle herself. She was met with his intense stare and a raised eyebrow, but her smile held. She got up and walked across the field to stand before him.

"Mind if I sit with you?" she asked, and Sesshoumaru only grumbled.

He let the little flower fall from his claws. Kagome picked it up again as she sat down beside him. As she spoke to him, she kept her eyes on the petals delicately rippling in the breeze.

"I know what you were trying to do," she said. "And thank you."

Sesshoumaru's eyes fell on her for a moment, and when she met his gaze he looked away.

"I should know how to defend myself. I should practice my aim," she said.

She hoped to get some sort of reaction from him, but he remained silent. Trying to get any words out of him was like trying to squeeze blood from a stone. She smirked. She knew how to get him to say something.

"Maybe when I get back I should have Inuyasha give me a crash course in sword fighting too," she said, and he turned around again.

"The hanyou's skills are negligible," he said.

"How'd I know you'd say that?" Kagome laughed. "Give him a little credit."

"I will do no such thing," he said.

Somehow Kagome thought what he said and what he actually thought were two different things. Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha might taunt each other, but Kagome saw they were more alike than they would ever admit. Kagome smiled to herself at the thought, and there was a few moments of silence between them.

"We will cross paths with my half-brother in a few days time. He is heading this way," Sesshoumaru said finally.

"Oh, well that's good I guess," Kagome said.

"Hnn," Sesshoumaru grumbled.

She wondered if it would be easy to fall back into the routine of traveling of with Inuyasha after being with Sesshoumaru. At first she felt out of place with him, but she had finally begun to get used to his ways. She liked waking up in the morning to Rin and Jaken's playful banter. And though it was hard to admit, she slept more soundly with Sesshoumaru watching over her than she ever had with Inuyasha and her friends. It was difficult not to trust him once you got to know him, and she supposed she now knew why Rin loved him so much.

She would miss them. All of them.

With a sigh, Kagome leaned back to lay amongst the flowers. She tucked the little red flower behind her ear and she and Sesshoumaru watched the clouds roll by, Rin's laughter ringing clear in the background.


End file.
